DJ Edu offers an enticing look at African sounds on This is Afrobeats

Album review: 1Xtra presenter DJ Edu presents a lively showcase of up and coming African acts in This Is Afrobeats, with some impressive talent featured.

Radio 1Xtra’s DJ Edu lends his name to the album This Is Afrobeats (Picture: BBC)

The dance floor has always been a hotspot for music revolutions. It’s where different styles and crowds sweat down together and new movements are fuelled. Take Afrobeats, the bold, youthful genre that nods to the fiery Afrobeat rhythms helmed by Lagos legend Fela Kuti but is more in key with glossy US hip hop/r’n’b than world music traditions.

The rapid global rise of Afrobeats has deep roots – African pop sounds (including Ghanaian high life and hip life) have been part of British nightlife for years. Its mainstream buzz involves various factors: fashionable soirées and dance crazes; packed British tours and chart anthems from the likes of Nigerian superstar D’banj; much-publicised props from the likes of Kanye and Jay-Z .

Passionate 1Xtra DJ Edu, the host of weekly show Destination Africa, is perfectly placed to compile This Is Afrobeats: a showcase of up-and-coming acts.

Afrobeats is a confident, unabashedly commercial sound that raises debate; the Auto-tuned productions here won’t appeal to everybody and they often emulate US stars (Asem calls himself ‘Africa’s very own Hova’ on No More KPayor).

At the same time, there’s an impressive force and pride to these dance smashes; Victoria Kimani provides the bold opener Ayaya Stronga Dan Eva, while rapper Naeto C proclaims he’s ‘the only MC with an MSc’ on Ten Over Ten. There’s also a stronger religious sentiment than you’d find on most US r’n’b (Duncan Mighty’s Hand Of Jesus).

Most excitingly, it’s a mash-up of pan-African roots and patois that really does cross continents. TIA is essentially a starting-point – this music is definitely going places.